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Many of today’s mid-range smartphones offer the kind of performance you would have expected from a flagship a few years ago. But it’s not just performance that’s gone up – many phone makers have also increased starting prices. Case in point: Apple recently replaced the iPhone SE ($429 starting price) with a new iPhone 16e ($599 starting price).
But the new Nothing Phone (3a) series smartphones buck both trends. These are mid-range phones with prices that start at $379 and $459, respectively. They both have triple-camera systems (the Pro has a slightly better camera setup). And they also bring other premium features like 120 Hz AMOLED displays. Nothing is now taking orders for the Nothing Phone (3a), and the (3a) Pro should be available starting March 11, 2025.
Both phones feature 6.77 inch, 2392 x 1080 pixel AMOLED displays with 120 Hz refresh rates, 1300, Qualcomm Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 processors, and at least 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage (they can also be configured with up to 12GB of memory and 256GB of storage, although configuration options vary by region).
The phones have 5,000 mAh batteries and support for 50W fast charging, under-display fingerprint sensors, and they’re both rated IP64 for dust and water resistance. And these wouldn’t be Nothing phones if they didn’t have some sort of LED lighting effects. In this case that’s provided by three light strips positioned around the circle that houses the phone’s camera bump.
Nothing says the phones ship with Android 15, but they’ll receive major operating system updates for three years and security updates for six, which means the Nothing Phone (3a) series should get its last security update in early 2031.
So what’s the difference between the Nothing Phone (3a) and Nothing Phone (3a) Pro? The cameras. Both phones have three rear cameras and one high-resolution front-facing camera. And both have telephoto cameras, which is a first for Nothing.
But the Nothing Phone (3a) has a 2X telephoto camera with a 50MP image sensor and an f/2.0 aperture and support for 4X “lossless zoom” (via image cropping), while the Nothing Phone (3a) Pro has a 3X periscope camera with a 50MP Sony Lytia 600 1/1.95 inch sensor, an f/2.55 aperture, and support for 6X lossless zoom.
The Nothing Phone (3a) Pro also has a better primary camera with 43% faster auto-focus and better light capture, as well as a higher-resolution front-facing camera for better light capture and less noisy image capture.
Otherwise the two phones are pretty similar:
| Nothing Phone (3a) | Nothing Phone (3a) Pro | |
| Display | 6.77 inches AMOLED LTPS FHD+ 120 Hz 800 nits (typical) 1300 nits (HBM) 3000 nits peak brightness | |
| Processor | Qualcomm Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 | |
| RAM / Storage / Price | 8 + 128GB – £329 / €329 / ₹24,999 8 + 256GB – ₹26,999 12 + 256GB – £379 / $379 / €379 | 8 + 128GB – ₹29,999 8 + 256GB – ₹31,999 12 + 256GB – £449 / $459 / €459 / ₹33,999 |
| Cameras | 50MP primary 50MP telephoto (2X) 8MP ultra-wide (120º) 32MP front | 50MP primary 50MP telephoto (3X) 8MP ultra-wide (120º) 50MP front |
| Battery | 5,000 mAh | |
| Wireless | WiFi 6 BT 5.4 | |
| OS | Android 15 | |
| Dimensions | 163.52 x 77.5 x 8.35mm | 163.52 x 77.5 x 8.39mm |
| Weight | 201 grams | 211 grams |
via Nothing
